Slowly, slowly

Just an hour after Beijing effectively devalued the yuan, when it launched the latest currency war with the US, Bloomberg reported that the Chinese government has asked its state-owned enterprises "to suspend imports of U.S. agricultural products after President Donald Trump ratcheted up trade tensions with the Asian nation last week."

China’s state-run agricultural firms have now stopped buying American farm goods, and are waiting to see how trade talks progress.

Another point of trade war (and soon real one)

1. Downgrading of diplomatic relations with India.
2. Suspension of bilateral trade with India.
3. Review of bilateral arrangements.
4. Matter to be taken to UN, including the Security Council.
5. 14th of August to be observed in solidarity with brave Kashmiris.

Backing off, as before hot season companies want to keep prices and delay official recession announcement

The United States Trade Representative (USTR) today announced the next steps in the process of imposing an additional tariff of 10 percent on approximately $300 billion of Chinese imports.

On May 17, 2019, USTR published a list of products imported from China that would be potentially subject to an additional 10 percent tariff. This new tariff will go into effect on September 1 as announced by President Trump on August 1.

Certain products are being removed from the tariff list based on health, safety, national security and other factors and will not face additional tariffs of 10 percent.

Further, as part of USTR’s public comment and hearing process, it was determined that the tariff should be delayed to December 15 for certain articles. Products in this group include, for example, cell phones, laptop computers, video game consoles, certain toys, computer monitors, and certain items of footwear and clothing.

https://ustr.gov/about-us/policy-offices/press-office/press-releases/2019/august/ustr-announces-next-steps-proposed

The United States is now, by far, the Biggest, Strongest and Most Powerful Economy in the World, it is not even close! As others falter, we will only get stronger. Consumers are in the best shape ever, plenty of cash. Business Optimism is at an All Time High!

We will soon be winning big on Trade, and everyone knows that, including China!

“If they don’t get this Trade Deal with the U.S. done, China could have it first recession (or worse!) in years. There’s disinvestment in China right now. Also, the Fed is too tight"

Nice drugs.

Nice useful charts

https://www.piie.com/blogs/trade-and-investment-policy-watch/trumps-fall-2019-china-tariff-plan-five-things-you-need-know

Huh... what can i say it's getting...huh...

He should get the main role in the next Matrix sequel.

"In 1820, China contributed more than 32% to the world's gross domestic product. Then, almost 20 years later, came the infamous wars of opium and it was the beginning of the most tragic period of the great Asian country ". "The country then immediately suffered" aggression, successive territorial amputations [including Hong Kong] and humiliations of all kinds. " Domenico Losurdo, in Fuir l'Histoire (Editions Delga, 2007)

New series of rants caused by thing posted above

Our Country has lost, stupidly, Trillions of Dollars with China over many years. They have stolen our Intellectual Property at a rate of Hundreds of Billions of Dollars a year, & they want to continue. I won’t let that happen! We don’t need China and, frankly, would be far ....better off without them. The vast amounts of money made and stolen by China from the United States, year after year, for decades, will and must STOP. Our great American companies are hereby ordered to immediately start looking for an alternative to China, including bringing.....your companies HOME and making your products in the USA. I will be responding to China’s Tariffs this afternoon. This is a GREAT opportunity for the United States. Also, I am ordering all carriers, including Fed Ex, Amazon, UPS and the Post Office, to SEARCH FOR & REFUSE.......all deliveries of Fentanyl from China (or anywhere else!). Fentanyl kills 100,000 Americans a year. President Xi said this would stop - it didn’t. Our Economy, because of our gains in the last 2 1/2 years, is MUCH larger than that of China. We will keep it that way!

So, it is Fentanyl. I see.

Next round

Sadly, past Administrations have allowed China to get so far ahead of Fair and Balanced Trade that it has become a great burden to the American Taxpayer. As President, I can no longer allow this to happen! In the spirit of achieving Fair Trade, we must Balance this very.......unfair Trading Relationship. China should not have put new Tariffs on 75 BILLION DOLLARS of United States product (politically motivated!). Starting on October 1st, the 250 BILLION DOLLARS of goods and products from China, currently being taxed at 25%, will be taxed at 30%......Additionally, the remaining 300 BILLION DOLLARS of goods and products from China, that was being taxed from September 1st at 10%, will now be taxed at 15%. Thank you for your attention to this matter!

I'll repost it again

Only conceivable basis under capitalism for the division of spheres of influence, interests, colonies, etc., is a calculation of the strength of those participating, their general economic, financial, military strength, etc. And the strength of these participants in the division does not change to an equal degree, for the even development of different undertakings, trusts, branches of industry, or countries is impossible under capitalism. Half a century ago Germany was a miserable, insignificant country, if her capitalist strength is compared with that of the Britain of that time; Japan compared with Russia in the same way. Is it “conceivable” that in ten or twenty years’ time the relative strength of the imperialist powers will have remained unchanged? It is out of the question.

Therefore, in the realities of the capitalist system, and not in the banal philistine fantasies of English parsons, or of the German “Marxist”, Kautsky, “inter-imperialist” or “ultra-imperialist” alliances, no matter what form they may assume, whether of one imperialist coalition against another, or of a general alliance embracing all the imperialist powers, are inevitably nothing more than a “truce” in periods between wars. Peaceful alliances prepare the ground for wars, and in their turn grow out of wars; the one conditions the other, producing alternating forms of peaceful and non-peaceful struggle on one and the same basis of imperialist connections and relations within world economics and world politics.

V. Lenin Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism

Time after time smartest professors hired by capital told that guy is wrong, and time and time again reality showed how right he is :-)

US companies make nearly $500 bil revenue in China, Chinese companies make ~$40 bil in US. Not included in exp/import figures.

Quitting Chinese market will be suicide for US firms

US President Donald Trump has ordered US companies to "immediately start looking for an alternative to China." If US firms obey his dictate, such actions will have serious consequences.

China is now the biggest market for some US-based enterprises, such as US automaker General Motors (GM). The automaker's China sales came to 3.65 million cars in 2018, exceeding its total sales in the US market, where GM delivered nearly 3 million vehicles. Some statistics have shown that China's car market is even bigger than those of the US and Japan combined. GM is already facing weak sales in the US. The automaker will suffer a fatal blow if it loses the Chinese market.

GM is a big player in the US auto industry, an important component of the US economy that is particularly prominent in some Midwestern and Southern states. According to statista.com, motor vehicle and parts dealers in the US had about 2 million employees as of March 2019. If GM's profits fall or it loses money, the whole US auto industry will be affected, the country's auto supply chain will shrink and mass unemployment will result.

In China, the vehicle industry is a fully competitive market. If GM withdraws from China, homegrown brands and automakers from countries outside the US will fill the gap in auto sales. As long as China has the world's largest vehicle market, there will be no shortage of auto-related investment. China has the initiative in this game.

There's not much chance that GM will obey Trump's outburst. The automaker needs its factories to be close to its customers to survive in a fiercely competitive market. To keep its foothold in China, GM has to keep producing in China - despite Trump's order. If Trump pressures US companies to take sides between the US and China, many of them will probably choose the latter. US business groups have already expressed their fierce opposition to Trump's gyrating trade policy.

"We do not want to see a further deterioration of US China relations," Myron Brilliant, executive vice president and head of international affairs at the US Chamber of Commerce, was quoted by media reports as saying. US companies are welcome to invest and operate in the Chinese market, but if some US companies want to obey Trump's order and join Washington's trade war, the result is bleak. A decision to give up the Chinese market is just suicide.

US China Business Council 2019 Member Survey

https://www.uschina.org/reports/uscbc-2019-member-survey